


Newsflash

by ProblemWithTrouble



Series: Pacific Rim [16]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Pining, Post-Operation Pitfall (Pacific Rim), Uprising Who?, talking about feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 13:04:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19906177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProblemWithTrouble/pseuds/ProblemWithTrouble
Summary: “Is this what reasonable people do? Work in the middle of the night so they have an excuse not to be in the lab during normal hours? To avoid a conversation that really should have happened the night we drifted?” Newt asked.“Newton, if you just let it go for a few days these feelings will pass and we can both move on with our lives,” Hermann snapped."What?"





	Newsflash

It wasn’t supposed to have changed anything. Well, the Drift was supposed to change how ignorant humanity was going into the last battle against the kaiju, but it wasn’t supposed to change the delicate balance that was Newt and Hermann’s relationship. 

They had both worked hard to get to the point where they could work in a mostly symbiotic relationship, but the Drift had gone and thrown a wrench in that because now Newton wanted to Talk. Not the way that he usually wanted to talk where he would just babble on and on about whatever it was that caught his interest and if Hermann went twenty minutes between any indication that he was listening it was fine by him. 

Now he wanted a “dialogue” and “conversation” as he had put it. Hermann suspected that he was pulling out all the keywords he remembered from therapy in an attempt to disarm Hermann about the topic at hand. The topic being Hermann’s feelings for Newton that had never fully disappeared, just waxed and waned over their near decade of communication. 

Hermann did not want to Talk. Talking would not get them anywhere good, or at least not for long. 

Newt had looked at him with wonder the night of the closing of the Breach. It was like he was seeing a whole new person and there were hearts in his eyes now. Two weeks before the Drift and Hermann would have been over the moon to have that look pointed at him. But things weren’t as simple as they had been. 

With their minds having been mixed together in the Drift the lines between them had blurred and Hermann couldn’t trust Newton to be himself. The love that Newt had looked up at Hermann with while they were still in a one-armed hug ws had been familiar to Hermann not because he had seen it on Newton’s face but because he had felt it on his own. 

Things weren’t simple, but they were still perfectly clear to Hermann. They had put their minds together and Newton had walked out with a desire for Hermann that was really just Hermann’s desire for him. It was no different than Hermann craving a bean burrito despite never having cared for the texture. Hermann wanted food he didn’t actually enjoy, and Newton wanted a man he couldn’t actually stand. 

“Hermann, dude, you can’t avoid me forever,” Newt said as he came into the lab. It was nearly midnight and while Hermann was roughly two seconds from denying it, he absolutely was avoiding Newt and was quite irritated by the fact he’d been found out. 

“I am not…”

“Don’t bullshit me. I’ve been in your head, and even before that I knew all your moves,” Newt said as he pulled his own chair onto Hermann’s side of the lab. It was better than the last time that Newton had tried to force this conversation when he had sat on Hermann’s desk instead. He was wearing a blue t-shirt that likely used to have some sort of graphic on it that had faded years ago, and a pair of sweatpants that looked to be just as worn. He had never looked more beautiful.

“Well if I had known it would cause this much trouble, I would have instructed one of the cadets to accompany me so they could drift with you instead,” Hermann grumbled, going back to his computer. There were rumors that the PPDC might stay open, but Hermann didn’t put much faith in that and was going through every one of the documents for any that might be useful and was copying them to an external hard drive. 

“A, you’re probably the only person in the entire world that I’m drift compatible with so jot that down. And B, it’s not causing any trouble, you’re just being weird,” Newt said, and he sounded softer than normal. A little desperate. If Hermann had to guess Newton only had two more attempts at having this conversation left in him before he gave up completely. 

“I am not being “weird” I’m being _reasonable_ ,” Hermann said. Newt only had two more attempts at this left in him, but Hermann wasn’t sure that he had the strength to finish this one. He reminded himself that it was for Newton’s own good and steadied himself. 

“Is this what reasonable people do? Work in the middle of the night so they have an excuse not to be in the lab during normal hours? To avoid a conversation that really should have happened the night we drifted?”

“Newton, if you just let it go for a few days these feelings will pass and we can both move on with our lives,” Hermann snapped.

Newt was quiet for a long time and Hermann hoped he had finally seen reason. He should have known better. “What?” Newton’s voice squeaked even more than usual and when Hermann turned to look at him his face was the perfect mask of confusion. 

Hermann sighed. “It’s a simple matter of transference, I have feelings for you and due to the drift, you are experiencing it as if it were attraction to me. I really don’t understand how you don’t understand this.” 

Newt ran his fingers through his hair and rolled his eyes. “Maybe I don’t understand it because it’s completely batshit,” Newt said.

“Newton,” Hermann started but was cut off. 

“Newsflash, asshole, I’ve been in love with you the entire goddamn time! I’ve been waiting for these feelings to fade for five to ten years and guess what, somehow I’m still in love with the most annoying man on the planet.”

Hermann’s mind had gone offline but his instinct to poke fun at Newton was strong and even while he was trying to wrap his mind around what Newton was saying he said, “There was never any doubt that you were in love with yourself.” 

“Hardy-har-har,” Newt said, kicking his feet out so that his chair moved closer to Hermann until their knees touched. 

Hermann’s mind was coming back online. If Newton had always had these feelings, then maybe they wouldn’t fade with the Ghost Drift. “Five to ten?” Hermann teased even as he reached out to take Newt’s hand. Newt threaded their fingers together and squeezed tight.

“I tried, but your sweater-vests are just too sexy to get over,” Newt said with a grin. Hermann was smiling too, so hard his face was starting to hurt but he couldn’t help it. “Can I kiss you now?” 

Hermann started to lean in. “Please do.”

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt "Newsflash asshole I've been in love with you the entire goddamn time"


End file.
